Thanks for asking. I?ve also lived in both Florida and Pennsylvania. Living out West is the shiznit. Residency here at The Copa has been excellent so far. Mostly, I've been impressed with the caliber teaching we receive both on and off our shifts from our attendings, who seem very involved and dedicated to the ED and residency. Our department is arguably the strongest and most stable at our hospital by consensus of both off service attendings and residents alike. Also, the second and third year residents in our program seem to be very well respected on different services, and are strong in terms of knowledge and management of trauma or medical patients. It is hard for me to imagine that I will walk among them in another 11 months. They say the learning curve is steep the first year....it must be a dead rise.
Residents seem pretty tight, with a relaxed relationship with attendings. They are teaming up to do an adventure race in October. Our first unofficial departmental party involved throwing all interns into a swimming pool.....along with all PGY2s, 3s, recent graduates, and attendings. Nobody was spared.
Phoenix is far better than even I had thought it would be. Sixth largest city in the US, so it has diverse activities / restaurants etc. Outdoor activities abound, with hiking and mountain biking being popular year round, and the added benefit of skiing in nearby Flagstaff in the winter. There's also a beach about 4 hrs away on the Gulf of California, but haven't seen it yet ....
I've only been here for about 8 weeks, so the honeymoon phase may ware off at some point. You can email me later in the year and get the updated opinion if you want.